Brockton Hospital patient who traveled to Mexico tested for swine flu

A patient at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital was identified as a potential swine flu case today, a hospital official said. Dr. Marc Greenwald, chief of medicine, said the patient exhibited flu symptoms and had recently traveled to Mexico, where the swine flu has struck hardest.

By Kyle Alspach

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Kyle Alspach

Posted Apr. 28, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 28, 2009 at 7:18 PM

By Kyle Alspach

Posted Apr. 28, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 28, 2009 at 7:18 PM

BROCKTON

» Social News

A patient at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital was identified as a potential swine flu case today, a hospital official said.

Dr. Marc Greenwald, chief of medicine, told The Enterprise that the patient exhibited flu symptoms and had recently traveled to Mexico, where the swine flu has struck hardest.

The patient was tested at the hospital this morning but was not hospitalized, Greenwald said. No information was released about the identity of the patient.

The hospital is planning to send the test sample to the state Department of Public Health for analysis today, Greenwald said.

The state has received at least two dozen such samples, said Jennifer Manley, spokeswoman for the public health department.

No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Massachusetts as of this afternoon, Manley said.

At Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, no suspected swine flu cases have been found, said Dr. Rick Herman, hospital emergency department chairman.

Elsewhere, several hundred students have fallen ill at the New York school hit by a swine flu outbreak, city officials said Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases in the United States rose to 64, with at least seven people hospitalized.

A U.S. health official said deaths were likely.

“I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection,” as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He said the hospitalizations include three in California and two in Texas.

“I would say I’m very concerned,” Besser said. “We are dealing with a new strain of influenza, we’re dealing with a strain of influenza that appears to be moving through our community.”

Based on the latest lab analysis, Besser said new flu infections are still occurring. He noted, however, that ordinary human flu accounts for about 36,000 deaths every year in the U.S.

Besser said the country has 64 confirmed cases in five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 10 in California. At least four other cases have been reported by states.